All India Radio AIR is one of
the world’s largest radio broadcasting stations. They have erected numerous shortwave
transmitting sites throughout the country for external service coverage as well
as for domestic broadcasting. Back in
April 2010, a group of three well known international radio monitors made a visit
to the AIR shortwave transmitting station at Khampur which is located on the
swampy out skirts of the city of Delhi. The external service of All India Radio
at the time of their visit was on the air via shortwave transmitting sites at:-
Khampur
Near Delhi 7 @ 250 kW
Kingsway Delhi 2 @100 & 3
@ 50
Malad Mumbai 1 @100
Gorakhpur Nepal 1 @ 50
Dhodballapur Bangalore 6 @ 500
Aligarh In North
India 4 @ 250
Bambolim Goa 2 @ 250
Guwahati Assam 1 @ 50 & 1
@ 200 kW mediumwave
The visit to the station by three visitors, T.
R. Rajeesh, Alokesh Gupta and Anker Petersen from Denmark, was organized by the former
station Engineer of Delhi Khampur, Mr. V.Baleja.
After visiting the AIR headquarters on
Parliament Street New Delhi, the three visitors traveled by car for a little
over half an hour to reach the Khampur station which is located 25 Km from New
Delhi. On the way to the Khampur
station, they saw the Delhi Kingsway transmitting site from the road. This 256 acre site is used for transmitting
programs on shortwave for the national
service as well as for the external services beamed to India’s South Asian
neighbors. They also saw the self
radiating mast of the AIR New Delhi mediumwave station at Nangli which is
capable of broadcasting in the DRM mode.
The Delhi Khampur transmitting station is
located on a large 630 acre site in the swampy fields of Khampur village in outer Delhi, bordering on the state of Haryana. While approaching the transmitting station they
could see the antenna towers and the curtain arrays from the road.
Several photos of the antenna masts were taken
from the roadside as they were aware that it is impossible to take photos
inside where photography is prohibited.
On the way to the station office, they saw much wildlife in the swampy
field. The dancing peacocks, doves and
storks welcomed them without any official formalities!
The Station Engineer, Mrs. Sonilatha Saigalin welcomed the visitors to her office and
she was amazed that three international radio monitors would travel so far to
visit this transmitter site! Anker
Petersen told her that the broadcasts from this station can be heard quite well
in Denmark and he suggested that he could send monitoring reports to her. The Station Engineer replied that such
reports are forwarded to the Frequency Management Division in New Delhi.
The Superintending Engineer, Mr. S. K. Aggarwal, who is the chief of the
station, directed the Station Engineer to show the visitors the transmitters and
antenna field. They observed the old and
new transmitters as well as a new DRM transmitter, and also the antenna towers
and the vast arrays of shortwave curtain antennas.
This Khampur station houses 7 @ 250 kW shortwave
transmitters and 36 antenna masts, and 49 curtain arrays. A special power substation provides
electricity to this transmitter station. At the time, the Delhi Khampur station had a
staff of around 200 employees, including 50 engineers and technicians.
The Delhi Khampur transmitter site
was opened on January 1, 1959 and the first transmitter was
a 100 kW Marconi, which was more recently sold
as scrap. Two AWA units from Australia
at 20 kW each were installed in 1962.
During 1965 four more transmitters were installed, two at 50 kW and two
at 100 kW, made by STC (Standard Telephones & Cables) of Australia.
A recent modernization plan was undertaken to
transform Khampur into an external services transmission facility. All of the new transmitters were placed in an oblong but spacious antenna switching hall and all of the AWA and
STC transmitters were retired from service.
In 1989, two 250 kW Brown Boveri transmitters
were commissioned exclusively for the external services. Then, two new modern Continental Electronics
units were installed in June 2000.
During the year 2002, three new 250 kW Thomcast transmitters were
commissioned for the external services and this converted Khampur into the
second largest transmitting station of All India Radio, after Bangalore.
The Delhi Khampur transmitting station
celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009 with the participation of
listeners and engineering staff.
Digital Radio Mondiale or DRM is the new trend
in shortwave broadcasting, particularly in India. Like many other major shortwave
broadcasters, All India Radio has also introduced DRM transmission on shortwave.
It is from this site, Delhi Khampur,
that AIR has tested DRM transmissions for both domestic and international
audiences.
A 250 kW Thales/Thomcast transmitter was
converted to DSB/DRM capability with an output of 55 kW for domestic
transmission on 6100 kHz, and on 9950 kHz for external service to Europe. The domestic transmission is monitored inside
the transmitter building with a Chinese manufactured Himalaya DRM receiver.
During the evening after the
informative visit to AIR Khampur, there was an informal meeting with local
international radio monitors in New Delhi.
For those who would like to do so,
reception reports for AIR Delhi Khampur may be addressed to:-
AIR High Power
Transmitting Station Khampur
Grand Trunk Karnal Road
Delhi 110036
India
Acknowledgment:-
Information from Alokesh Gupta of New Delhi
Photos & support
from Anker Petersen of Denmark
T. R. Rajeesh for the original
article which has been adapted for broadcast
(AWR-Wavescan/NWS 288)
